Discipline and Punish: The Ways of the Lord

Day 42: Joshua 5-9

At least five times a day I have to tell Elizabeth to obey me. I give her an order, and she disobeys. I punish her each time and hope that one day she will eventually learn to obey (or at least obey more often). Her tendency is to disobey; she wants to do her own thing, to make her own decisions. But I still punish her when she disobeys--even if it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

As a parent, I can understand more about the idea of obedience, as well as the connections between obedience and punishment (or discipline). I didn't understand it much as a kid. I didn't think punishment was fair, even though I had deserved it, and I often grew angry at my parents when they disciplined me. Punishment was supposed to curb my bad behavior, to direct me towards doing the right thing. And it worked most of the time. One day I'm sure it will work for Elizabeth, too.

As we become adults, though, there is no parent to give us a spanking or to discipline us. We make our own decisions and we must suffer the consequences when we sin and disobey God. And even though God may not put us to death or have our peers stone us (like what happened to Achan), He still disciplines us.

As a Christian, I believe Christ has redeemed me and covers my sins even when I fail. However, just because I am forgiven and redeemed does not mean that I won't suffer consequences because of my sins. Sometimes the consequences are mental and emotional; other times they are physical. Other times the consequences occurs realistically in my life or my relationships. Regardless of what I do, God still disciplines me. He is still trying to get me to obey, just like I keep trying to do with my children. And He does so because he loves me and wants me to live a life that he envisions for me. But I also think he disciplines us because God is holy and we are not, and he wants us to remember this fact. God is holy; we are not. We are, however, made holy through Jesus, yet we still sin and must be punished.

God loves us and wants us to be holy like he is holy. I hope to live my life in holy obedience to God.